The security challenges of our time: How security companies can reinvent themselves
The world has changed and people will take more responsibility for their own security the same way they are doing now for health. Security companies need to redefine their purpose, mission and identify the right services needed to fulfill those objectives through more systems and diverse skills set in intelligence, surveillance and recognition and ultimately less security guards…. Our world has changed and with the economic and social impact of covid 19 we see everyday people reinforcing the protection of their homes, installations, shops etc.. and in extreme cases like in the US recently we saw people rushing to buy guns or hiding in underground homes just before lockdown starts. People will more and more trust themselves and take more responsibility for their own security . Why should they allow other people with unknown status to their homes or workplace ? How do people know who is hiding behind the face mask? How should they mitigate the risk at all if they are willing to? What are the implications of all these events to the security industry and professionals? As people try to protect themselves from covid and other future diseases, personal security will take priority even at the workplace . Social distancing rules are all about not having people closer which itself can help keeping people become more alert on small crimes. The ecosystem in which security companies are operating is rapidly changing. Security companies really need to be up to speed and start selling security solutions instead of selling guard services and traditional CCTV cameras They should focus on the right controls required for the new risk level., focus should be on selling security information about the threat level around premises with recommendations and corresponding corrective services. Installation or house owners need information about the threat level for them and how they could adequately prevent incidents. Owners need to know in real time with dynamic analysis whatʼs happening now around them and immediate surroundings ,what has happened , why and how is it happening , the link between them, the actors and how they can keep safe amidst all this . cameras and guards are just meant to achieve this and instead of selling fixed and old fashion traditional cctv systems , flexible security information should be sold without a heavy fixed initial investment. In most cases, no one even checks the recordings or only when things go wrong and even in this case it takes hours to review the entire footage and of course it’s a time consuming activity.
Security personnel with paper-based checklists and basic access control are just not fit for the challenges. Cameras without analytics set up on specific events and alerts mean not much. Security cameras should go beyond just tracking visitors or just events on equipment …and play a key role in managing performance , compliance and efficiency in most sites with a holistic approach.. At city level, smart cities with cameras installed across all key areas will only make sense if effective surveillance is done with embedded analytics in those cameras . By far today and even where you have the right cameras , the recordings from such systems are still used post event in most cases. Weʼre not advocating that everyone should be monitored but we cannot be naive and pretend everyone is an angel either. This is not a discussion about freedom over security or vice versa (like wearing or not wearing a mask) but itʼs all about how personal protection is achieved when people are outside their uncontrolled areas. Crimes happen everyday and effective and sustainable incident prevention starts with attempts to make the environment perfect in the first place. Security companies in order to fulfill their responsibilities in Intelligence surveillance and recognition need a wider network providing input for effective threats and vulnerabilities assessment. They need to cooperate with city cameras owners or install their own for a wider network coverage. In addition they need a dose of diversification to make things happen using all public domain information available from all public sources.